Blogging until the end of time


Blogging has become such an important part of our world- helping us connect socially, academically, and personally.

Today on the blog, Blog Feed Readers and the Blogs we Follow.

Blog Feed Readers:

Blog Readers (or RSS Apps) were created to compile all of the blogs, youtube vlogs, and news feeds in one place so that you do not have to go search all over the internet to find updates. There are plenty of RSS apps out there to help readers- now all you have to do is find the best one that suits your needs.
Each RSS Service offers many different options from free to a monthly subscription.

So when I looked over the options I decided I needed to evaluate what I wanted out of the RSS service.

The things I looked for was: 
1. Ease of use
2. Format (picture to written ratio)
3. Platform use



The Blog Reader I ended up settling on was Feedly. I chose Feedly because it was really simple to use. After you finish creating your free account, the website prompts you to create your first feed. I created a feed called Library Blogs- then I was able to use the search bar to search for specific content. Then after finding the select blogs, I thought would benefit and help my journey through my degree in Library Science and my future as a school librarian. After I have selected the blogs, the feed shows up and also gives selections. I really like the feed layout- it is simple and provides all the information you need without causing too much confusion of content.

I really like the content ratio- providing pictures, titles, small blurb/summary, author/blog, and posted date or time posted. I like this because it makes scanning the blogs content easier. The other Blog Feeds had a similar content set up- but they either only provided pictures and titles or only provided titles and summaries. I think that this set up was easier to identify content that I found important for ease of access. Lastly I think that the availability of platform use- web, IOS, and Andriod. I have mostly android and PC devices, but I think that it being available to all without issues to all platforms very crucial.

Blogs We Follow:

I chose to look for blogs surrounding important parts crucial to library science. So I split up my searches by search terms like "Librarians", "YA Books", "Library Organizations",  and "technology."

First Librarian Blog I chose was "The Daring Librarian." I chose this blog because of the activity and interest I got from her twitter account on my last blog post.
Her blog discusses many different topics- her two new blog posts were about summer reading and Brass Cogs & Virtual Steam. It looks like she provides ideas for programs like speed dating for books and information of gamification along with education presentations and collection development ideas. Great blog to follow.

Second blog I chose was The School Library Journal as a librarian organization blog. I chose this blog because I know that it will have a variety of resources since it is a national organization.

This blog/website has a plethora of resources with the most recent posts ranging from a review of the Author line up for the 2017 Book Expo - Children's Librarian dinner, library design for developing aspirations, and book reviews. This resource is a must have for any and all school librarians to follow trends, get book recommendations, and many many more.

Next, I focused on finding a YA blog to follow for reviews. I chose the Nerdy Book Club blog to follow. I have seen/ heard many of the contributors to this blog speak at conferences and educational professional developments that I knew this one was one to keep my eye on.

This blog provides valuable information on books of every kind- children's, picture books, middle years, and Young Adult books. They provide reviews of these books, author posts, and also include their own awards voted on by their users.

Next, I looked for more individual blogs that covered many different aspects of librarianship. I found The Absolutely True Adventures of a School Librarian.


This blog documents the experiences of Nikki D. Robertson, LMS turned administrator and presenter. It covers topics such as reading incentive programs, end of year reports, and tips for new school librarians. This seems like a valuable resource and she has a lot of followers that have input into the blog.

Lastly, I tried to find a blog for librarians that focus on the technology side of library. I found blogs like The Digital Shift that focuses on the technology side of libraries and new media.

This blog reviews current educational apps, ebook platforms, research ideas, and many more. This is a great blog to follow to stay current on tech issues in the industry.


Also- Just for fun here is a link to my tumblr account. https://redsjourneythroughbookland.tumblr.com/ 


Comments

  1. UnknownJune 16, 2017 at 7:44 AM

    I really like the blogs you suggested! Thanks for sharing! I too liked The Daring Librarian from Twitter and chose to follow her blog. However, the others you mentioned I had never seen before. After reading about them on your post, I decided to check them out. Each blog had a lot of good information for me as a future librarian, so I decided to follow them!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jennifer EspinozaJune 30, 2017 at 8:16 PM

    I also selected Feedly for similar reasons. I'm very big on visuals and so I was glad when I checked Feedly since many of the others appeared to be just too busy with text. I also found The Absolutely True Adventures of a School Librarian and I'm so glad that I did. I loved her blogs and can't wait to use some of the ideas that she's discussed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kanie De LeonAugust 2, 2017 at 2:07 PM

    I also really like Feedly, as a digital immigrant, I found it really easy to use. I like the blogs that you recommended, and liked the Daring Librarian. I think she provides a lot of good information on a variety of content dealing with the library. The nerdy book club was also good, I really liked that it provided reviews on different types of books.

    ReplyDelete

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